Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I second the Bill. There is no reason we cannot accept this Bill and I hope the Minister of State will be in a position to accept it, at least on Second Stage. The Government can make amendments on Committee Stage if it feels some technical improvements need to be made.

Senator Ó Murchú has outlined the background to this Bill. The inability to access this information from the 1926 census removes many of the pieces of the jigsaw of Irish history, such as cultural issues, an analysis of the First World War, or any other issues that took place in that decade. It would be important to make this information available to us. One understands things like Cabinet confidentiality, where there is a need for information to be kept private rather than secret for a period of time and for a variety of reasons. As we get older, the 30 year rule does not seem to be quite a long time at all. I think of many of the papers that were released last year going back to the GUBU period and things that many of us remember as news items and how the Cabinet of the day dealt with certain things. Of course it is important that these things are kept private for a period of time. However, 100 years seems ridiculous in the extreme, especially when we consider the benefits of the release of that information, including for those people of Irish descent all over the world who can put in place some pieces of their jigsaws. Senator Ó Murchú mentioned that when the Statistics Act was under consideration in 1993, the great former Senator Maurice Manning put forward an amendment to have a 70 year rule applied to this.

He withdrew the amendment on the basis of an understanding to the effect that the then Minister, former Deputy Noel Dempsey, would press ahead with his 70-year rule. Unfortunately, the legislation was passed into law on 7 July 1993 and the 100-year rule stood. If the former Senator Manning had known that nothing was going to happen, then the amendment to which I refer could have been pressed.

I understand that it is possible to source information from US censuses up to the 1940s and that the release of data from the 1950s is under consideration. The information in question has been a tremendous resource for people of Irish extraction - including members of my family - seeking to trace their heritage. The Gathering is something which the Government and all of Ireland can celebrate. It has given rise to many benefits and has captured the imagination of the Irish across the globe. As Senator Ó Murchú stated, there are many genealogists worldwide who would like access to the information contained in the 1926 census in order to complete the picture.

Another matter of importance is the displacement of people following the 1916 Rising and, in particular, the War of Independence. In that regard, there were allegations that what could be described as ethnic cleansing took place in respect of Protestant people living in the west Cork area. There is no question that atrocities of which none of us is proud took place and there is no doubt the statistical information which can be gleaned from the 1911 census does not provide a true picture of what happened post-1916. Let us consider the example of a Protestant family living in west Cork during the period in question. Two of that family's three sons enlisted to fight in the First World War and while one returned and moved elsewhere, the other died in the conflict. The third son married a Catholic woman and they went on to have seven children, all raised in the mother's faith in line with the terms of the relevant 1908 decree. What happened in this instance would distort the picture that would have become apparent from the 1911 census and by 2026 only one of the five members of the Protestant family in question would be traceable. This example would also lead one to believe that serious displacement - perhaps even ethnic cleansing - of people occurred following the War of Independence. However, this might not be the case. I am not trying to explain away the atrocities which might have occurred, I am simply making the point that there are details within the information relating to the 1926 census which could provide a great deal more clarity in respect of the events which took place and the culture which obtained at the time. Such detail could also paint a picture with regard to the position of the Irish language at the time, particularly in respect of the counties in which there were active Gaeltacht areas.

We could obtain a wealth of knowledge from the 1926 census. As Senator Ó Murchú correctly stated, it has been 20 years since we visited the legislation relating to statistics. The position in this area is written in law but not in stone. Perhaps we should modernise our approach to the information in question and acknowledge the assistance it could provide in respect of so many other aspects of Irish life. Perhaps we should resurrect the great Maurice Manning's 70-year rule or even go further by introducing a 50-year rule. Let us be honest, 30 or 40 years is a long period. I accept there is a necessity to protect people's privacy in the context of personal information, etc. When a number of generations have passed, however, it should be possible for individuals to access information which could be of benefit to them.

I commend the Bill to the House. I accept that some of the legislation brought forward by those on this side of the House cannot be embraced by the Government. I am of the view, however, that the entire Oireachtas could embrace the Statistics (Heritage Amendment) Bill 2011, particularly as it could contribute something positive to our society in the future.